Jaklyn nodded. "I'll be fine. Let's go to this archway."
The archway was in the middle of the woods and surrounded by trees, but it was impossible to miss. Taller than Jaklyn and made of old stone, it seemed like a testament to days long past; by all logic it should have crumbled, but it was still standing.
The most remarkable thing about this archway, however, was not the archway itself, but what blocked it. Vibrant blue-orange flames danced under the stone, creating a wall to prevent anyone from passing through it. No one went within five feet of the structure, and Jaklyn followed in their lead.
"What does that symbol mean, Ezra?" Summere asked the old wise woman.
"It means fire," she replied, as if the meaning was obvious. "There are three other archways this connects to, guarded by earth, ice, and sky, spread out through the other realms. They are said to lead to the Elemental Room, created by the Originals to draw from as they created their worlds."
"The Originals?" Jaklyn asked. "Those who created the different realms?"
"Yes, of course," Ezra said. "But only those who are worthy may enter into the archways."
Jaklyn walked up to inspect it. She ran her hand along the stone. It felt warm. She examined the signs written down the sides and wished she could read the runes.
"Do you feel the warmth from the fire?" Ezra asked.
She hadn't thought about the fire when she approached it. She realized that the fire itself didn't feel hot. Warm, certainly, but not hot.
"Yes, I do, but... It's not hot." Jaklyn extended her hand toward it. "It's odd. Come here, feel this."
Summere approached as well, and, like Jaklyn, extended her hand toward the fire. Her expression showed her to be in bliss. "It's very pleasant, isn't it? It'd be nice during the winter..."
Roan took a step toward them, but his face was obviously uncomfortable. A quick snapshot of his mind revealed that the fire was not warm to him, but hot—and it was almost painful for him even at the distance he was at.
Ezra laughed, a loud, cackling, wheezing laugh that was unsettling more than anything. "Only those who have been blessed by a Divine can approach the archways. Roan, you are Gifted, but Malo does not bless."
Roan scuffed and backed away. "I notice you don't approach either."
"I am not blessed by the Divine, only blessed with wisdom through experience. I know better than to try when I am not qualified for it."
Jaklyn was mostly puzzled. She looked over at Summere, who was taking this development in stride; Summere's eyes were closed, and her hand was getting closer and closer to the flames themselves.
"Be careful, Summere," Jaklyn warned before she noticed it was too late. Summere's fingertips were in the flames, and... nothing was happening. Jaklyn gaped.
Summere smiled. "The flames do not hurt us. Some people must be able to pass through the archways, otherwise they wouldn't be here, right?"
Jaklyn blinked.
"Here, why don't you try?" The blonde took Jaklyn's shoulder into her grasp, running her fingers down her arm and onto her hand. She pulled it down toward the fire, swinging her own body halfway through the archway.
For a moment, Jaklyn's heart raced. Sure, Summere, the daughter of a goddess, could pass through these flames, but Jaklyn was a normal girl, and maybe the blessing wouldn't be enough to protect her...
Then, she felt the warmth deepen. She didn't know what she'd compare it to. Perhaps a hot spring after she'd adjusted to it, without the wet, or warm winds amid winter. It was altogether enchanting. She took a few steps in to follow Summere.
After they'd walked through the archway, they were in another place entirely.
The flames they had walked through illuminated a dark hallway of stone and dirt, but beyond it, neither could see anything. Summere walked a short distance down it, out of site, and then returned, then took a long look at Jaklyn and sat down. Jaklyn followed suit, but remained silent. Kahiya's daughter was thinking.
"I do not know who is meant to go down that hallway," she whispered. "I do not know how long it is, and I do not know what is waiting at the end."
"I will do whatever is your will."
"There are five options. I go. You go. We both go. No one goes. We find someone else to go."
"Right."
"I think it should be one or both of us that goes."
"Alright."
"I simply do not know which."
"Would your mother know?" Jaklyn asked.
"She has made it clear that I am to use my discretion."
"Oh."
"You will need to be protected. Minndi will not be happy if you are with us, and it will be better if you have some way to defend yourself. I think you should go this path," Summere mused.
Jaklyn swallowed and nodded.
"I suppose the question is whether I should accompany you. Do you have a preference on that?"
"I don't know."
"I understand. It's very sudden. I'd prefer to leave my presence or lack thereof up to you. I do not think you need me, but if you want me..."
"Do others need you?"
Summere paused. "No," she said slowly, "but it'd probably be better for me to watch them."
"If you feel that would be better, I think you should stay back and watch them. If I find I cannot do this alone, I will turn back."
"Are you certain?"
"I am. Thank you, Summere. I hope I do not fail you."
"Jaklyn," she said, kissing her on the cheek and forcing eye contact. "You will not fail me." Something about her certainty made Jaklyn certain too. After she watched Summere disappear back through the archway, she walked down the dark path alone and with a fresh jolt of confidence coursing through her.
Chapter 16
The confidence did not last. Before long, the tunnel became so dark she had to walk along the wall to know where she was going. It was the type of place so often featured in tales of the great explorers and journeyers. In these stories, the tunnels would lead to a place filled with the Great Ones, magicians, puzzles, or some other glorious adventure. Now, walking through the land of tales stole the wonder from it. A breeze filtered in through the already cold tunnel, beating against her face as she walked towards its origin. Water hung in the air, humidity soaking her bit by bit as she progressed. This didn't help her cold just as the vines growing from cracks in the stone beneath her feet didn't help her move gracefully in the darkness.
The air seemed alive, but it was silent. Nothing stirred behind her or in front of her. The wind itself didn't whistle through the tunnels as she would have expected. She was wary as she walked forth, waiting for something to jump out at her and tell her that she would have to beat it to continue. Nothing pounced, but the wind blew, the vines grew, and the water soaked her hair and skin.
The tunnel continued for a very long time. Miles, Jaklyn thought. It didn't twist, but it descended further into the ground. She wondered if it was symbolic, if the continual movement downwards was a representation of a hell she was going to have to face when she reached her destination.
Then, she reached steps. Dozens, if not hundreds, of steps led downwards in front of her; she felt them with her hands. It was hard to see in the darkness where she was placing her feet, and even more cautiously than usual in such an isolated place, she got onto her hands and knees to slide down the stairs. It felt like a ridiculous act of a small child.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and crawled a short amount further before standing in the circular room she had come to. From her vantage point, she could see three other doors in the room besides the one she had just emerged on. Above each door, a symbol was written subtlety in the stone, but her mind was clear and she was hypersensitive to detail. The elements were all represented: earth, wind, water, and behind her, fire. Other characters—some she knew, many she didn't know—were carved on every inch of wall in the room.
For many minutes, she merely stood and took it in before considering the setup in the middle of the room.
In the center of the room a light shone from above onto a circular stone platform.
She didn't know what else to do, despite that she had traveled for such a long time just to get to this place. No one had told her exactly awaited her at the end of the tunnel—and all she had found were four doors, a lot of symbols she couldn't decipher, and an abnormally geometric stone. Without a more refined idea, Jaklyn stepped onto this stone, if for no other reason than to stand in the sunlight.
It wasn't sunlight.
In a moment all was clear.
The symbols on the wall brightened and expanded towards her, each making some sort of vibration that reminded her of a musical note, but she wasn't positive she could honestly call them that. Each told her something, like multiple people contributing to a story, and she knew without even a slight doubt that every conception she had of what they were telling her was correct.
This was the Elemental Room. This room, which could only be accessed by those blessed by the Divine, was a place out of the normal realm entirely. In the realm in which this room resided magic was not an invisible curiosity but an almost tangible thing. The light streaming down was the magic in a pure form, resting, waiting for those who would step up to face it head on.
Jaklyn had done so.
The light penetrated her skin, burned her where the fire itself would not. It forced its way into each of her cells individually and painfully. She could feel it peeling apart her innards just enough to get in and through to the next layer. The magic saturated her entire being, and she did not think she could survive more going into her body, but she could not stop it. It had control now, and all she could do was wait to see if it would let her go enough to even whimper for the pain.
It coursed through her body now, joining itself with not only her cells but her very thought processes. It reconfigured her brain before using her body as a test ground for the abilities it had through a host of her type.
Water burst from her first. Water flowed from her eyes in steady streams, then from her mouth. She felt like she would inhale it at any moment and had to fight the urge to take a deep breath. She was losing air. She was drowning. She was—
Taking in enormous amounts of oxygen. The air filled her lungs much longer than should have been possible, and she exhaled in a giant gust of wind. Then she felt it on her back, a heat that was growing, was spreading upwards. Fire. It was not painful, the fire did not burn, just heated.
She tried to do something to it. She lifted a finger and concentrated as much on the water as she could but accomplished nothing. Nothing issued forth from her as she had seen traveling mages do as a child, and she wondered how much of that was genuine talent or if they had contrived some of it.
Even as that passed her mind, her fingers felt a sensation. Something was issuing forth from them, she was certain of that. But when it finally came, it was not a growing stream of water but plants flowing forth from her nails. They forced their way up from the base of her nail beds, tearing the nails from their rightful positions on her fingers to sprout rapidly. Minutes later vines covered the surrounding ground, and one grew around her left leg.
Her stomach convulsed. Too much was going on for her to remain normal. Too much was going on for her to even remember what qualified as normal. She was used to the realm of mind magic, but this was unprecedented in pain and extremity. She had no clue what to do in her state of exhaustion and sheer excruciation.
The vines had created a patch of softness on the ground beside her.
Her exhaustion tempted her to make it her bed for a night, and she obliged it for the time. Water spouting from her eyes, wind gusting out from her mouth, her hair on fire, and plants coming out of her thumbs, she laid down hoping maybe it had just been a dream.
She woke, almost as tired as she had been before she had slept. The pain from the magic surging into her body continued but she could feel that no more was coming in. Her hair had turned back to hair, but her mouth was dry from the wind, her clothes were soaked from the water, and the vines were still rooted in her thumbs. She tore them a few inches from the tips of her fingers before she sat up. Nothing else about the room had changed; the symbols in the wall had returned to their original places, and a single light still shone down on a raised platform of stone innocently in the center of the round room. She cursed it under her breath and it seemed to glow brighter. It was as if it were mocking her.
She located the door with the fire symbol above it and slowly made her way up the stairs.
When she emerged from the tunnel, it was light outside. She called for Summere, then Ezra, and finally Roan, and received no reply. She even pushed a very slight amount of her mind magic forward and scanned the woods for any sign of human life.
She heard nothing but the sounds of the animals that dwelled in the trees.
With no clear indication of how to get back—Summere's paths had faded quite some time ago—Jaklyn started in what she thought was the direction toward Ezra's hut. If she could get there, she thought, perhaps they'd be able to find her.
She did not notice that, as she stepped on it, the grass underneath her feet grew taller.
Somehow, she made it back to the hut she had met Summere's group by, and paused. The torches had been moved... No, not just moved, but thrown onto the ground. The hut itself even seemed to be damaged; the roof, made of a soft straw material, was frayed and had several notable holes in it. In confusion, Jaklyn stared at it.
She resolved to walk back to camp, but, after she looked around at the woods surrounding her, she realized she had no idea which direction she needed to travel.
She bit her lip and knocked on the door to the hut. Inside, someone cussed and yelled at her to wait. She trembled, hoping she wasn't too much of an inconvenience for the owner.
When she was wondering whether to leave for lack of answer, the door opened.
Minndi's mouth dropped open at the sight of her. "Jaklyn? Thank god. Get in here, we need to talk."
Jaklyn walked into the structure. It was one room, and she could see the occupant's items thrown around the floor. Yarn, books, and even a cauldron were in disheveled heaps around the walls. Someone had cleared out a section of floor in the center, and on the far wall, there was a window pulsing with a strange light unlike anything Jaklyn had ever seen.
"Where is Alikos?" Minndi demanded. "Why are you all the way out here alone? And where the hell have you been?"
"I... I don't know where Alikos is. We were taking a walk, and Roan chased us, so we ran into the woods to get away, and I lost him," she concocted.
"Damn it, I knew I should have killed him. Shit. Things are just getting better and better. You didn't get hurt in that spurt of weird ass weather, did you?"
"No, I'm fine. 'Weird ass weather?'"
Minndi stared at her. "The earthquakes. The winds. Scouts told me the woods caught on fire a few miles from here. The river flowed backwards for awhile. How did you miss this?"
"I... I don't know. I was asleep, so maybe I slept through it?" She knew it made little sense even as she said it. Jaklyn had never been a heavy sleeper.
"I'm scared, Jaklyn," Minndi said. "I've never heard of anything like it. A lot of things here aren't natural, but this... this isn't even normal. If they could afford to do this for whatever reason, whatever they bring to battle will be more powerful than anyone in Tyiku has seen in their lifetime. Did you hear that half the slums got destroyed by the winds?"
"I haven't heard anything. You're the first person I've seen since Alikos went missing." Minndi was not on the defensive. She was sucking in all the lies as absolute fact.
"Please, Deoth, god of destruction, help me defeat my enemies." Minndi sent the prayer to the sky, looking up at the roof of the hut. She turned her attention to Jaklyn. "I know you just got here, and I know we have a lot of information to exchange, but please, sit down for a moment. I have some things I must get done as soon as possible. I have soldiers working on it on the other sid
e, so it will not take long, it's simply a matter of doing it."
Without further discussion, Minndi walked through the pulsing light of the window and was gone.
Jaklyn was tiring of this. She grabbed a chair, set it upright, and waited.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, Minndi returned, carrying a lot of heavy metal shapes in her arm. They were all tubular and had what looked like some sort of handle and lever combination on one end. She handed some to Jaklyn, warning her not to push the lever. Carefully, Jaklyn examined it in confusion.
Soon after, a group of soldiers in bizarre common clothing followed through, carrying similar metal shapes and boxes that rattled.
"Minndi... What are these?" Jaklyn asked, looking down the end of one tube. Minndi cringed.
"Don't point that at your face. These are our tickets to winning this thing. The Sralossans won't have a clue how to fight us. Carry those for me if they aren't too heavy."
Jaklyn blinked, and without further consideration, followed the Tyikians out of the hut and through the woods. They were not traveling past the camp, but to the city, and she was left trying to figure out how she'd get back to Summere—if it was even worth it. She did not know what these metal figurines meant, but if Minndi put this much confidence in them, they were a threat to the Sralossans.
As she was thinking about this, they reached the edge of the woods. In the distance, the city caught her attention. She let out a slight cry of exclaim.
People moved among the fallen houses. Here, at least, a good portion of the structures were intact. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but register the wooden boards that had once made houses broken on themselves. Entire neighborhoods had capsized.
Her first reaction was to note that the palace still stood, a turquoise beacon of hope in the center of chaos.
Her second reaction was a response to slums of the town. It was… gone. That wasn't quite right. It wasn't gone, she realized. But it's not there anymore. I can't even find where my house used to be. She focused on the area, trying to make something out of the scene there. She watched the people in rags rummage through the fallen buildings. She imagined they were looking for what little food and money they had. Beer too, she thought.
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